Unlock Your Next Level Model Building Potential with Improved Anaplan DX

matthias.siller · 2023-10-06T13:24:22+00:00

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Hi Anaplan Community!

I’m excited to present you Improved Anaplan DX by valantic, a Chrome extension, that also works seamlessly on Edge. This tool is designed to make your Anaplan model building experience smoother, more efficient and supercharge your productivity. Download the Improved Anaplan DX today to bring your Anaplan model building to the next level!

Key Features

1. Page and Report Analysis

Need to find all pages referencing a specific module? Or identify which line items are used as filters in your Apps? A simple keyboard shortcut will help you locate and analyze these critical dependencies, empowering you to make informed decisions.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P9DNFARVwHA

Find all modules used in Pages / Reports: Ctrl + Alt + i

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=psZwVN64XqA

Find all Line Items used as Filter variables in Pages / Reports: Ctrl + Alt + o

2. AI-powered Formula Assistance

With the integration of GPT-4, our AI-powered assistant is right there in the formula editor. Get intelligent suggestions, code snippets, and contextual guidance as you write your Anaplan formulas.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-mpWs_nLuiA

Get help from GPT-4: Ctrl + Alt + b. Give it instructions by adding them in your formula between two ## enclosing tags.

3. Formula Editor Enhancements

We've revamped the formula editor to make it more user-friendly. Tooltips appear when you hover over items or functions, and our validation and error highlighting features catch potential issues before you even submit your formulas.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CR0ooXpd4J4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hOj9l1_dQFQ

Prompt Validation: Ctrl + Alt + Space. Can also be set to run automatically when the formula is submitted and will prevent faulty formula from blocking the model.

4. Keyboard Shortcuts

Forget about the mouse! Improved Anaplan DX offers an extensive set of keyboard shortcuts that cover nearly all Anaplan actions. Navigate modules, edit line items, and more—all without having to switch between your mouse and keyboard.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VGk8tI3yJH0

Show / Hide Sidebar and Contents: Ctrl + Alt + s and Ctrl + Alt + d, navigate to modules: Ctrl + Alt + Shift + M, navigate to lists: Ctrl + Alt + Shift + Letc.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mOjOtTNmxdk

Open Module: AltGr, swich to blueprint Ctrl + Shift + Space (built-in), focus first line Item: AltGr, open formula editor: Ctrl + Shift + £, expand formula editor: Ctrl + Alt + ., expand editor: Ctrl + Alt + y

5. Enhanced Popup Windows

Say goodbye to annoying popup windows. Our solution makes them focus traversable, allowing for seamless navigation. Styling elements have also been added for better visibility, and you can confirm your changes in all popups using the Tab key to reach the enter button.

Customization

You can easily tailor the tool to your specific needs by turning features on or off in the settings.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ZjzrynWe6U

Comments

CommunityMember112470

Super cool - I'll check it out. Thanks for sharing!

AxelT

Nice - I have been using it for a while now, lots of cool things that stuff I am using daily like short cuts. The formula validation has already saved me a lot of time!

stefaniecmeyer

Huge fan of the Formula Editor hover function! I have been waiting for this functionality for a while. Thanks for sharing!

JessieZ

Do the shortcuts only work in PC? what is the corresponding Mac shortcut? for example, Get help from GPT-4: Ctrl + Alt + b. I tried a few combination in Mac but it doesn't work. Thank you,

nickn

matthias.siller are users aware that when users use AI-powered Formula Assistance, private/company/client information is sent to ChatGPT (corporation) for processing without client/company/person explicit/written consent? How will users employer's legal departments will react to this? Does this browser extension need to be ITSec/Legal Team approved before users start using it to avoid putting them in breach of company internal policies?

nickn

for those still thinking about this. https://www.techradar.com/news/samsung-workers-leaked-company-secrets-by-using-chatgpt

Vinz

Hi @nickn ,

Thank you for your comment! Please allow us to address your concerns.

Our goal with this extension is to help all fellow model builders with their daily job. We have no intent to collect any data beyond what is absolutely necessary. By installing this extension, users agree to our privacy policy which states what data we collect and how it is being processed. We tried to make this statement as transparent as possible, but please do reach out in case anything is unclear.

In addition, we want to point out that:

The data is not being sent to OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT, but rather to a dedicated Azure OpenAI GPT-4 deployment, where we can guarantee that the data is not being used by any third-party in any way.
The extent to which private/client data is collected is limited to only what is necessary. We collect the following two pieces of information:
1. The user email. This is to prevent abuse and overuse of any single user to protect us from absurdly high Azure OpenAI invoices.
2. The actual formula, because this is the information needed for the extension to do what it needs to do. This does not include any information on the Tenant or similar. In addition, nothing that is not included in the formula is leaving your browser, and thus does not allow for any conclusions, such as for which company you are working for.

The article you shared is therefore not relevant for this case.

We hope we have eased your mind with our clarifications above. In case you have further concerns but would still like to use the extension, please either feel free to reach to us at anaplan-integration@ba.valantic.com or your company's IT-Security and/or Legal team.

Happy model building!

Vinz

@JessieZ Thank you for raising this with us!

We are looking into the issues you described and will be in touch as soon as there is an update.

nickn

@Vinz just couple feedback. On #1 and #2, if put together, you can exactly know where user works, since you collect email/I don't think anyone uses personal gmail/etc.. account with Anaplan models. Also its not quite clear how from https://anaplan-dx-data-policy-529ea26da9d1.autoidleapp.com/ what data is exactly collected (just general Usage is kinda broad). It would be great if you updated it with what you wrote above (under 2.b) so that its part of actual Policy.

Vinz

@JessieZ All mentions of Alt are now interchangeablewith command on Mac OS. Please let me know if this now works for you.

Vinz

@nickn You are indeed correct that we can often determine the company an individual works for by examining the domain in their email. However, the primary concern is that we cannot ascertain which Tenant a user belongs to. Therefore, if a user is, for instance, functioning as an external partner, we would remain unaware of their affiliations or even recognize their role as an external partner, which was the intent of the original statement to emphasize.

HimanshuRaj

Hi @matthias.siller This is great. Could you please also help on why all shortcuts starting with Ctrl + Alt not working? I am using Windows laptop.

I am not sure if it's a problem just with me?

Thanks

Vinz

@HimanshuRaj I'd be happy to help you with this. If you would please answer the below questions to help me narrow down potential issues:

Are you using the Ctrl + Alt keys around the Windows key? On some laptops the right Ctrl& Alt may behave differently.
In which Anaplan view did you try this?
Please ensure CapsLock is disabled, it does not trigger on Upper Case key strokes.
Are you certain you have the Workspace Admin Privileges on the model you are trying to run these commands on?

Thanks

HimanshuRaj

Hi @Vinz Thank you for your quick response.

Initially I used Ctrl+Alt around the windows key, then also tried from right side of the spacebar. It didn't work in both cases. I tested (Ctrl+Alt+i, Ctrl+Alt+Shift+L, Ctrl+Alt+a), etc
Pardon, Not understood your question properly. I went to modules section and tested (Ctrl+Alt+i, Ctrl+Alt+Shift+L). I had tested Ctrl+Alt+i after selecting a specific module as well
Capslock is disabled, although i had also tested it by keeping it on. In both cases, didn't work
I am workspace admin with full access. I also have page builder access.

Thanks

Vinz

@HimanshuRaj Thanks for the swift response. Would you mind trying this again with the browser console open ( https://developer.chrome.com/docs/devtools/open/ ) and see if any errors show up?

Other shortcuts work as expected?

HimanshuRaj

@Vinz Other shortcuts are working as expected but not anyone that involves Ctrl+Alt.

I tried with Browser console open, it doesn't show anything weird.

Thanks

Vinz

@HimanshuRaj Would you mind trying the same with Ctrl + Windows + i ? If that still fails could you please do the following:

Open the Console again.
Navigate to the inner Frame on the Website, it will be called framework.jsp: 3. Insert the following into the console and confirm it with Enter:

This will log all your keystrokes and the registered meta keys and we should be able to see were this goes wrong.

Thanks!

HimanshuRaj

Hey @Vinz Amazingly, Ctrl+windows is working instead of Ctrl+Alt.

Thanks for your help on this.

Cheers!!

matthias.siller

🚀 New Feature: Collapsible Configuration Cards in Apps & Dashboards! 🚀

Exciting news! We've just rolled out a game-changing feature in the Apps & Dashboards section: the Collapsible Configuration Card. Have a lengthy configuration card at the top of your page? Now, you can make it collapsible! Just add a custom keyword to the card's title and voilà – you can expand or collapse the row with ease. Say goodbye to endless scrolling and hello to a more streamlined, efficient workspace. Try it out now and experience the difference! 🌟💡👩‍💻👨‍💻

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zGCjYteCaus

HimanshuRaj

Hi @matthias.siller , How do you enable this custom collapsible button? I added a custom keyword on text card then published the page but I can't see that small button

Cheers!!

Vinz

Hi @HimanshuRaj, please make sure you follow these steps:

Enable the feature in the extension settings and optionally set the keyword. Make sure to save the settings.
Add the keyword on the card and publish the page.
Reload the browser page.

Please let me know if the issue persists.

HimanshuRaj

Thanks @Vinz . That worked

HimanshuRaj

@Vinz There seems to be a bug. Every time I go out of the page, collapse seems to disappear. It required refreshing the page every time to make the collapse appear

Vinz

@HimanshuRaj Can you elaborate on what you mean by "go out of the page"? The Button is injected only on page load, so if you make any changes to the page, this will cause parts of the page to be reloaded by Anaplan, overwriting the button that was added by the extension.

This feature will be extended in the next release to listen for these reloads and inject the button again, which should eliminate the behaviour you are observing. I will update you accordingly here.

HimanshuRaj

@Vinz Understood. By going out of the page I meant, when I navigate to any other page and then navigate back to my collapsible page, that button disappears. It appears only when I refresh the page again.

Cheers!!

Vinz

@HimanshuRaj I have updated this behaviour and the collapse button should now always be appended whenever a qualifying row appears. For e.g. if you load a page, enter Designer mode and exit Designer mode again, the buttons should now be there as expected where before you would have had to reload the page.

This change is included in release 1.2.44. Please let me know should your problem persist.

LukaszDudek

Hey,

First - thanks for that add-in, as it saves a lot of time!

Help me please on one thing - recently moved from Windows to Mac and can't see a way to use Ctrl+Alt+O. It doesn't work with Ctrl+Command+O and any other combination I tried. I tried also different keyboard layouts (U.S., British, ABC), no effect.

How to bring that?

Cheers, Lukasz

Vinz

Hey @LukaszDudek,

I suspect it is due to the keystrokes differing from what the extension expects. Many keyboard layouts have some overlap with the keystroke combination Ctrl + Alt + o and will output i.e. ò which the extension does not recognize. Can you use a text editor to verify if this combination in your case does produce such a special character and try a keyboard layout that does not?

LukaszDudek

Hey @Vinz,

I know, I experienced that previously on Windows, that's why I mentioned I tested different keyboard layouts. On Windows in fact, Polish keyboard layout didn't work, but US one did. Now, on Mac, there's no difference which one I pick. Any other thought?

Thanks!

Vinz

Hey @LukaszDudek,

A colleague raised a similar issue just now, Anaplan appears to have made some changes that break our extension for this specific feature. I think it's likely that you are also affected by this and the timing of you moving to mac is purely coincidental. You can verify this by checking the console in your browser's developer tools, you will likely see some errors related to the extension. I will investigate and update here ASAP.

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